Bottle packing machine



Aug. 17, 1954 L. WIMMER ET L BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 22, 1952 FIG.I

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BOTTLE mcxmc momma:

Filed Jan. 22, 1952 '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZUflW/ W/MMER 06191? 414 061! BY QM, zazwgmzm 4,0

Aug. 17, 1954 V WIMMER ETAL 2,686,623

' BOTTLE PACKING mcuma:

Filed Jan. 22, 1952 V 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 17, 1954 1.. WIMMER ETAL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 22, 1952 IN VEN TORS ZO0W/6 W/MMA'R ipa/m flAwfzz Aug. 17, 1954 WIMMER ETAL 2,686,623 BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 22, 1952 INVENTORS 00W/6 W/MMEA 17, 1954 w M ETAL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Jan. '22 1952 INVENTORS 4.41/0 W/6 w/M/wv? 1261A Awpaz audy Aug. 17, 1954 L. WIMMER ETAL BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Jan. 22. 1952 FIG.I7

S? mwfl mm a WM M WM 1: Y a B ,0 M M o I 1 F he Patented Aug. 17, 1954 BOTTLE PACKING MACHINE Ludwig Wimmer and Edgar Ardell; Middletown, Conn., assignors to: Emhart Manufacturing. Company, a corporation of." Delaware ApplicationwJanuary' 22, 1952; Serial'N'o. 267;575*

9 Claims. 1

This invention relates to bottlespacking machines; that is, to machines. for. placing in: shippingor storage. cases; bottles or other rounded articleszhaving a-circular; polygonal or other substantially round contour and theterm. bottle will be used. in-thisspecification to include such other articles. More particularly. the invention relates to machinesafor assembling such articles in: upright position, in. groups, usually to. form a complete charge, and then. causing the articles of the group; or. ofF the complete change to enter the case substantially simultaneously by; gravity.

Still. moreparticularlythe invention relates to improvements in the: construction of the bottle packing, machine. which is disclosed. in Patent 2,219,827 W; P; Kimball and Cornelius I Braren, granted October 29, 1940,- andownedby the same assignee as the present application.-

It is: customary-to pack bottles containing food products, beverages, andthe like; in cell-type shipping case having. criss-crosspartitions:forming individual: cellsto. receive the' bottles; thepacked bottles thus-being separated l from, one 1 anothenby the partitioning, material; usually corrugated board, to prevent breakage.

The'primary object. of the present invention is to provide a-constructionof: charge forming and charge: directing mechanism for guiding the charge into the cell. case with. aminimum of scufling ofrthe-labels;

In bottle packing apparatus of. this type as'represented by theabove mentioned patent itis custcmary-to elevate the caseto. bring thetop thereof into. engagementwiththepackingmechanism in order to receivethe charge ofl bottlesi therefrom, but this complicates the automatic feedingof the empty cases to the machine.

Accordingly, anotherv object.- ot. the. present-invention is. to provide a ipacking'. mechanism which is so arranged-thatitheraisingofithe caseat: the packin position is unnecessarm, the; cases. being fedintopacking positiombymeansof. aflight con veyon Another object: ofstheeinvention.isto provideta packing. mechanism of this; sort in .Which the-,-hot tles can descend by gravity into the cellicase-Without fear of breakage even.throughitthecella case is positioned r at. a considerable? distance-vertically below the packingmechanisma Another object .of; the; invention? is,- to -pro.vide.- a cell? case packing-machine of, the. kind; referred: to which is of simple construction; and which will operate. automatically. fonconsiderablelperiods of time Without substantial att'entionor servicing.

The invention willlie understoodt itomm con- 2. illustrate one embodiment of the invention by way ofexample. In these drawings:

Fig, 1 is a front'elevation-ofthe apparatus of the invention;

Fig 2 is atside elevation looking. from the left of Fig. 1,;

Fig. '3 is avfragmentary side elevation lookin fromthe right. of-Fig. 1;.

Fig. 42is-avertical sectionalviewtaken .on. line :-4of" Fig. 1 looking towardrthe-leftas-indicated by, the arrows;

Fig. 51s a detailed-vertical section of. certain partszshown in Fig. 4 with some of these parts-in difierent'pos-itions Fig. 6 is a planview' of: the machine-partly-in section and" with; certain; parts.- omitted 130:5].1OW particularly the upper chargedirecting mechanism. or grid Wit/11.131116100131718 guiding springfingers mountedthereon i Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view similar to,Fig 6 showing parts in different positions;

Fig. 8 is a detailed. vertical. section, taken on line 83 of=Fig. .6;

Fig; 9: is a.- projectional view oftheigrid shown in Fig. 6' with the'bottle' guiding spring fingers omitted;

Fig. 10 isa, similar but fragmentary view-ofa portion of Fig. 9 showing: the mounting of the spring-fingers:

Fig, 11 isa view-somewhat similar to-Fig; 10 but? with one-of. the parts in raised position;

F g; 12is averticalsection-taken'online |2.|2 of Fig.4 with parts omitted andwith-theillustratedipartsin position readyfor apack-ing cycle to start;

Fig; 13 isaview. like Fig: 12 but Withthepositions of the parts.-shifted.causing. the charge-to drop into thecase;

Fig. .1'.i= is aprojectional- View ofthe lower and verticall shiftable, charge directing mechanism or. grid with the bottle directing: spring: fingers omitted;

Fig: 15- is-a fragmentary. viewsimilart'o Fig.x14 showing the-mounting of aipair ofxspringifingers;

Fig.2 16 is a: fragmentaryplanview of'thedetails-of: some ofthexpart's shown-:inFig: 14; and

Fig; 17 is a vertical section taken on line l'T-AI of Fig. 16.

In general; the arrangement and construction of the bottle packing machine is like that disclosed inthe above-mentioned patent; except that the operation of the packingcycleis initiated by means of a one revolution clutch driving'the operating cam shaft instead of by the continuously rotating cam" and'controlling latch mechanismof the patent. Consequently, before setting forth the improvements embodied in the present invention, a description of the machine as previously constructed will be given.

Referring first to Figs. 1-6, the bottles are advanced in parallel lines, one of which is indicated at l in Fig. 6, on a continuously moving Wide belt 2 from left to right as viewed in 2 into a charge forming and. segregating mechanism indicated generally by numeral 3. The charge forming mechanism comprises a series of upright metal plates 4, spaced apart slightly more than the diameter of the bottles and an ranged to maintain the bottles in upright position supported on a series of rails onto which the bottles are moved by the belt 2. The bottles are maintained in rows on belt 2 by means of suitably spaced stationary guide plates which in line with the plates 4 as shown in Fig. 1, one

of these guide plates being indicated by numeral 8 in Fig. 2.

The charge directing mechanism, which is indicated generally by reference numeral 2!, comprises the series of rails 5 together with cross bars 8. These bars, of which more will be said later on, have the same spacing as the rails and with them divide the area beneath plates i of the charge forming mechanism into a series or square chutes, twenty-four in number, the cases into which the bottles are to be placed being subdivided into twenty-four bottle compartments or cells by suitable partitions, the cells being arranged in four rows of six each. Secured to projecting downward from all four walls of each of the twenty-four chutes are spring fingers 3 which serve to guide the bottles in their descent. A second set of somewhat similar spring fingers is preferably employed to receive the bottles from the first set and guide them into the individual cells of the case, but under proper circumstances this may be done by fingers 9, if desired. This second set will be described in detail below.

When a complete charge of bottles has been delivered to the charge forming mechanism 3 between the platesl by belt 2, and also when a case i between the plates and the plates are in horizontal alignment with the respective guides G3 which maintain thebo ttles in rows on belt 2.

In order to support plates 4 and to impart this shifting motion to them, they are rigidl suspended from a pair of parallel horizontal rods ill 'by suitable hangers; Rods i ii in turn are pivoted 'at their opposite ends to a second pair of shorter horizontal rods ii phich are pivotally mounted at the upper ends of two pairs of parallel rook arms 52 and i3. Rock arms l2 are keyed or pinned at their lower ends to a horizontal rock:

shaft it, mounted in brackets on the frame,

, while the lower ends of rock arms is are similarly supported on the opposite side of the machine.

Bock shaft M is actuated to cause the bodily shifting of plates l by means of a face cam l5 and a cam follower roller it mounted at the lower end of an actuating member ll which is This causes the four g loosely mounted on the left end of rock shaft M (Fig. 2). Member H has an integral upwardly extending arm 58, to the upper end of which a tension coil spring i5 is attached. The motion of members ii is transmitted to rock shaft 25 by a yieldable connection including a compression spring 28 which encircles a rod 2.! the left end of which is mounted in arm 88. Rod 2| passes slidably through an aperture ina block pivoted at the upper end of a short arm 22 which is fixed to shaft i l as indicated in Fig. 2. In this way, plates are yieldably actuated in both directions to prevent damage to bottles in the case of a jam.

Operating earn it is mounted on the end of a horizontal cam shaft 23 which is intermittently rotated by means of a one-revolution clutch, indicated generally by numeral 2 5 at the opposite end of t e shaft (Figs. 1 and 3). Clutch 24 includes a continuously rotating toothed wheel 25, which constitutes the driving member, and a double armed driven member 26 keyed to shaft 23. One of the arms of member 26 has pivoted at its end a dog 2i, and the other arm cooperates with a backlash preventing latch 23.

Power for operating the machine is supplie through two endless chains 29 and 36 both driven from a common shaft, such driving shaft (not shown) usually being the slow speed shaft of a speed reducer. Chain 2:: is trained around a sprocket near the right end of a shaft 3i which is parallel with shaft 2-3 and which constitutes the operating shaft of a driving pulley or drum 32 for the bottle supply belt 2. The second chain 3% is trained around a sprocket on a third parallel shaft 33 to which is fixed a three-lobed cam 3 3 for resettin the control mechanism of onerevolution clutch E4.

Shafts 3i and 33 rotate at the same speed. The continuously rotating toothed driving wheel 25 of the clutch is driven in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 3 by means of suitable gearing 355. It will be understood that the driving dog 21 is biased by means of a tension spring 36 toward toothed wheel 25.

The tripping of the clutch to cause it to make one revolution is done by means of a control arm 3? (Fig. 3) which is pinned to a control shaft 38 and which has a roller 39 to engage the tail por tion id of driving dog 2?. When arm 31 is moved downwardly from the position shown in Fig. 3 tail portion lift is released and spring 36 causes dog 2? to engage one of the teeth of driving wheel 25 thus imparting rotation to the driven member 25. Control arm 3i and roller 39 are biased downward by means of a coil spring ll (Fig. l) on control shaft 352.

As will presently appear, after the clutch control mechanism is tripped to start the one-revolution the control is immediately reset so as to prevent more than one revolution. This is done by three-lobed resetting cam 34 on shaft 33 which engages a roller at the end of an arm 42 which is mounted on shaft 33 with a yielding connection through coil spring 3 surrounding shaft 33 (Fig. 1).

The rocking of control shaft 38 to trip the clutch is controlled by a latching mechanism about to be described which, resisting spring 4|, holds the parts in the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3 where-the dog 2! is out of engagement with the clutch driving wheel 25.

The latching mechanism just referred to its arranged to cause the operation of one-revolution clutch 24 only when a full charge of bottles cpeegecs is within the charge forming: mechanism 3 and a case is in the case position: C shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, ready to receive. the charge from. the charge directing mechanism 1 The latching mechanism comprises a. latch bar which is mounted on collars. fixed to a cross shaft 46, together with a series: of four bottle actuated latches 47 and a single latch 38 which is actuated by the case at C through suitable mechanism. Latches 47. and 48 are mounted in line on a common fixed supporting shaft: 42 and biased into engagement with latch bar 35, latches 4! being provided with tension springs (Fig. 4) for this purpose.

Thelower ends of latches 4'! are provided with horizontal projections in the form of screws 5f, the headed ends of which project to the right as viewed in Fig. 4so as to be engaged by the lower portion of the first bottle in each row. Latch 48, instead of having one of these projecting screws, has pivoted to. its lower end a link bar 52 Whose opposite end is connected to a bell crank lever 53.

The other arm of this lever is connected by means of a downwardly extending offset link i l to a short actuating arm 55. on a short rock shaft which is mounted in a suitable bracket attached to the machine frame and has at its opposite end a second short arm 5'! to which is connected an actuator 4 arranged in the path of the side of the case at C. The engagement of the case with actuator M releases latch as from latch bar 45 through the linkage just described.

Shaft 46 of this latch mechanism is provided at its right end as viewed in Fig. l with an arm 58 connected through a horizontal link 58 with one arm of a second bell crank lever which is pivoted to the frame above one-revolution clutch 24 (Figs. 2 and 3). A vertical link 61 joins the other arm of lever 60 with a short actuating arm 62 which is pinned to clutch control shaft 38.

The arrangement is such that when latches 4'! and 48 are in engagement with latch bar 45 the linkage just described. holds control rock shaft 38 and control arm 31 in the position shown in Fig. 3 where roller 39 engages tail d0, of dog 21 0 thus holding the clutch 24 in disengaged position, against the action of coil spring 44. Whenever latches 41 and 48. are actuated to release latch bar 45. by the presence of a full charge of bottles in the charge forming mechanism 3 and the arrival of the. case table 44 at the top of its movement, the linkage above described allows spring 4! to rock. control shaft 33 and arm 3? in the direction to release tail 4!! of dog 21' and the clutch 24 is engaged, thereby causing shaft 23 to commence rotating.

This causes the discharge of the bottles into the case and, consequently, latches ll and 48 are returned to their latching position almost immediately, and as soon as thereafter as one of the three lobes of resetting cam 34 on shaft 38 moves arm 42 upward again, control shaft 38 and arm 31 are relatched and held in this position so that roller 39 will engage the tail. ii! of dog 2?, at the end of the revolution of shaft 23, and stop the shaft.

The cases or trays are automatically moved into charge receiving position C by a flight conveyer consisting of a pair of endless chains 53 and equally spaced flight bars 64. These flight bars move individual cases along a bed or table which is arranged at the proper distance below the charge directing mechanism T as will. be

mentioned again. below. The cases move table 65 between stationary sideguides 66 and they are stopped successively at the charge receiving position by the stopping of convcyer chains 63 which are driven by means of an intermittent or step-by-step operating mechanism (not shown). As an aid. to preventing the case. from being carried by its inertia ahead of its flight bar, the actuator 44 for driving latch 48 previously referred. to is arranged to contact the side of the case just, as it comes to rest, and being spring biased as shown in Fig. 4, pinches the case against the opposite. side guide 66.

This completes. the description. of the general arrangement of the packing machine.

The improvements constituting the present invention have to do with a mechanism, which; is vertically shiftable prior to. the descent of the bottles into the cell case for positioning the bottles in: spaced relation to one another in each row so that when. the bottles pass through the individual chutes which guide them into their individual cells, the bottles will be more orless centralized with respect to the chutes, or at least will not have to be shifted to separate them one from another during descent into the chutes. In this way scuiiing: of the bottle labels is minimized. Substantially simultaneously with the rise of the vertically shiftable device, the bottles in each row of the group or charge are permitted to shift forward somewhat from the position in which they were stopped by the charge forming mechanism. This momentarily reduces the line pressure of the bottles on. beltv 2 which continu ously urges the bottles forward against the stops of the charge forming mechanism.

To this end the cross bars ii of the charge di rectingmechanism 7 are arranged to be simultaneously vertically shiftable and are provided with camming surfaces at. their upper edges to engage the bottles. For this reason cross bars 3 are rigidly 58011138611241) their opposite ends inany suitable manner to side bars 61 so as to form a rigid unitary structure which will be referred to as the upper movable grid 68. This upper grid is moved upward and downward by means of a pair of air cylinders 69,. the piston rods '38 of these cylinders being connected to brackets which are mounted on the. opposite sides of grid 68.

Although the camming surfaces may take different forms, the preferred form shown in the drawings is that of a series of V-shaped notches E2 in the upper edgesof the cross bars 8. As best shown in Fig. 9 these V-shaped notches T2 are arranged in rows, in this instance 4 in number, to correspond with thefour rows of bottles which form the charge, and the notches are cut pro gressively wider and. deeper into the successive cross bars 8 from the rear to the front of the charge or from right to left. as viewed in Figs. 6 and 9-.

By making the notches of progressively vary ing. width and depththe bottles toward the left of the charge are shifted to a lesser extent than those towards the right when the grid is raised. It willv beunderstood that these rows of. notches 72 are in line with the-respective bottle support-- ing rails 5 since the bottles are shifted to separate them from one another while each row is still centered on one of these rails. In order to permit the vertical movement of. cross bars 8 the rails 5, which consist of edgewise mounted strips, are provided with verticalslots I3 slightly wider than the thickness of cross bars 8: and: through. which these cross bars. pass.

As the bottles are moved into the charge forming area along rails and over the grid 68 the foremost bottle in each row, after actuating one of the latche 41, strikes a stop member hi, and as mentioned before these stop members are ar ranged so as to be shifted slightly forward. To accomplish this stop members it; are fixed at the upper ends of upright brackets (Fig. 9) which are mounted on a forwardly shiftable cross bar 78. This bar 76 is undercut at its ends and slidingly supported on two shouldered members 'i'l. Coil compression springs 78 bias bar "it to the right against the shoulders of members ii thereby holding the stops M in their normal advanced positions. Stops M and their supporting bar it are however locked in such position by means of a latch plate 19 which engages a series of notches 80, one in the upper edge of each of the stops 74, one of these notches being shown in Fig. 9.

Latching plate 19 is secured to a cross member 8i which is carried on the lower movable grid 65 so as to be shiftable up and down with this grid. Member BI is carried on two upright posts 82, one at each end, these posts being mounted on the side bars 61. The arrangement is such that the upward movement grid. 38 releases latch plate 19 from notches 80 and allows the stops 74 to be pushed forward by the pressure of the bottles, this movement compressing the springs l8.' The forward or left hand spring finger 9 for the foremost bottle of each row is mounted on the shiftable cross bar l6 and consequently it is provided at its upper end'with an offset portion 83 (Fig. 4) so that the spring finger will be held in the correct vertical position at the time of the descent of the charge.

The air for operating the air cylinder at is supplied by any suitable pressure source through a pipe 84 to a control valve 85 (Figs. 6 and 8), this valve being operated by mean of a cam 36 on cam shaft 23. Valve 85 is connected with the two cylinders 69 by means of piping 81.

In order to place the spring fingers of the bottle chutes in interengaging position with respect to the cells of the case C, the case itself may be raised from the table 65 but preferably and in accord with another feature of the present invention, the case is allowed to remain on table 65 and a lower vertically shiftable grid 38 is provided carrying a second set of spring fingers 9a which are arranged in groups telescoping with the spring fingers 9 previously described.

Just before the dropping of the charge of bottles into the case, lower grid 88 is shifted downwardly placing the lower ends of the sets of spring fingers 9a within their respective cells of case C, so that the lower ends of these fingers are below the upper edges of the cells. The upper portions of spring fingers 9a, or the chute forming members of grid 88 which constitute the supports for these spring fingers, remain in telescoping relation with the spring fingers 9. Hence in effect, each bottle in its descent passes through two successive chutes and two successive groups of spring fingers which successively retard and guide the bottle in its descent. The upper sets of spring fingers 9 guide the respective bottles into the chutes of the lower movable grid 88 and the spring fingers 9a of this lower grid direct the bottles into the case cells.

In carrying out this construction the lower movable grid 88 comprises a rectangular outer frame 89 within which is mounted a grill-like .formation consisting of longitudinal strips or members 90 which have the same spacing as bottle rails 5, and cross strip or members 91. These also have substantially the same spacing and are arranged to interfit with strips 98 to pro vide a number of square bottle chutes having the same arrangement as the bottle chutespreviously described in connection with the upper movable grid 88, i. e. four rows of six chutes each.

The lower movable grid 83 is supported upon the piston rods 92 of a second pair of fluid pressure cylinders 83, similar to cylinders 85 previously described but having a longer stroke. The lower ends of piston rods 92 are secured to the side members 39 of grid 88 by brackets 94. Grid 88 is also preferably provided at its lower periphery with a downwardly tapering skirt 95 which serves to engage the sides of the case and center it properly as grid $8 moved down.

The air or otherfluid pressure for operating cylinders 93 is supplied from the same source line 8 3 as cylinders 85 for operating the upper movable grid 68. Also the control is somewhat similar. The line 84 is connected to a cam operated control valve 96 which is in turn connected with the two cylinders d3 by means of piping 97. The cam for operating valve Q6 is indicated at 98 in Fig. 1'7 and is also on cam shaft 23.

In the operation of the apparatus, lines of bottles several feet in length rest on the con tinuously moving belt 2 maintaining the bottles of the four rows in close formation, that is, in contact with one another, as shown in Fig. 6, one row being here indicated by dot and dash lines. When a case has been advanced along table 65 to position C and actuator 44 through the linkage described has shifted latch 4e away from latch plate 45, and also when the foremost bottle of each of the four rows has shifted each of the latches ll from the position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 5, latch plate 45 and rock shaft 46 are released for rocking movement under the action of coil spring 4! (Fig. 1), shaft 38 and shaft 46 being interconnected by a linkage previously described and shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

This shifts roller 39 (Fig. 3) downwardly rel asing the tail 40 of dog 2'! and tripping the onerevolution clutch 24. Shaft 23 is thus set in rotation. The first thing which happens is that cam 86 (Fig. 8) shifts valve 85 and causes the upper movable grid 68 to be elevated. The first part of this movement releases latch plate 19 from stops M and allows these stops to shift forwardly so that the line pressure on the bottles commence to move the six bottles in each row of the charge forward. However substantially simultaneously with this forward movement of the bottles, the camming surfaces, that is, the V-shaped notches T2, of upper grid 68 engage the bottoms of the bottles and shift them, some forwardly and. some rearwardly, thus separating them from one another as shown in Fig. '7.

Thus for example, referring to Fig. 6 the foremost bottle of each row, upon a slight movement to the left which occurs immediately after the release of its stop 14, will have its median line at the right of the V-shaped notch 12 which is immediately below this bottle. Accordingly, this notch will shift this bottle to the left and bring it to the position shown in Fig. 7. Similarly the second and third bottles will be shifted to the left while the fourth, fifth and sixth bottles will be shifted to the right by their respective bottle shifting V-shaped notches of the cross bars 8. It will be understood, however, that the point at which the bottles are stopped by stops M, and the size and variation of the V-shaped notches may vary with the diameter of the bottles and also with the size of the groups or charge, particularly the length of the rows in the charge.

Further rotation of shaft 23 shifts air valve 96 and causes the lowering of the lower movable grid 88 thus projecting the spring fingers 9a and the skirt members into thecase C (Figure 13). Substantially simultaneously with this movement air valve 85 is shifted back to its original position thus lowering the upper movable grid 58 back to its original position. Also substantially simultaneously with this movement the face cam it shifts the vertical plates 4 thus moving the four rows of bottles laterally off of their supfiorting rails 5 and allowing them to drop through the chutes and into the case, that is from the position shown in Fig. 12 to that shown in Fig. 13. During this movement the left hand edges of plates 5 as shown in Fig. 2 hold back the lines of on belt 2.

As soon as foremost bottles of each row are shifted and drop with the charge, the bottle actuated latches er return from the position in 5 to that shown in Fig. 4, this occurring just before the three lobed earn 3 5 causes the reset ting ofthe one-revolution clutch tripping mechanism including the latch plate d5. Also as soon as the foremost bottles have moved they release the stop member M and the two compression springs it return cross bar it; and stops i i to their original positions (Fig.6). The rotation of shaft 23 continues until stopped by the onerevolution clutch, and during this continued movement the bottle shifting plates t are returned to their original position in line with the guides B for the rows of bottles upon conveyor 2, thus completing the cycle and admitting a new charge of bottles.

By employing the lower shiftable grid construction which results in having double telescoping sets of lingers in the path of each bottle of the charge, the charge can be dropped by gravity into the case without fear of breakage of the bottles even though the charge is dropped from a much greater height above the case than in the type of apparatus wherein the case is lifted up to receive the charge. t will be understood that by retaining the feature of dropping the charge into the case the apparatus is made to operate at a considerably higher rate of packing than would otherwise be possible.

It will be understood that changes can be made in the construction of the arrangement of the mechanism as above described without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a machine for packing bottles in cell cases, a pair of spaced parallel rails for guiding the opposite sides of a row of bottles as they descend into the case, one of said rails serving to support the row of bottles previous to its descent, means for feeding a line of bottles along said rail in close formation, a series of spaced cross bars forming with the rails a row of chutes for the individual bottles, said cross bars being mounted for vertical movement and having bottle Camming surfaces at their upper edges for shifting the individual bottles on said rail to separate them one from an other to correspond with the spacing of the chutes of said row of chutes, a shiftable stop member for arresting said line of bottles before the foremost bottle comes abreast of its chute, mechanism for raising said cross bars and substantially simultaneously therewith causing a forward shifting of said stop member, whereby the bottles of said row of bottles are separated from one another and aligned with their respective chutes, and means for thereafter moving laterally with respect to one another said row of bottles and said pair of rails to cause said row to drop through said chutes into the case.

2. In a machine for packing bottles cell cases, a pair of spaced parallel rails for guiding the opposite sides of a row of bottles as they descend into the case, one of said rails serving to support the row of bottles previous to its descent, means for feeding a line of bottles along said rail in close formation, a series of spaced cross bars forming with the rails a row of chutes for the individual bottles, resilient blade-like fingers as-- sociated with said chutes to engage the cell-forming structure within the case and shift the same as necssary to receive the bottles, said cross bars being mounted for vertical movement and having bottle camining surfaces at their upper edges for shifting the individual bottles on said rail to separate them one from another to correspond the spacing of the chutes of said row of chutes, a shiftable stop member for arresting said line of bottles before the foremost bottle comes abreast of its chute, mechanism for raising said cross bars and substantially simultaneously therewith causing a forward shifting of said stop member, whereby the bottles of said row of bottles are separated from one another and aligned with their respective chutes, and

' means for thereafter moving laterally with re spect to one another said row of bottles and said pair of rails to cause said row to drop through said chutes into the case.

3. A bottle packing machine as set forth in claim 2 in which the shiftable stop member is biased to bottle-arrestin position and held in such position by means of a latch, and wherein this latch is released by the upward movement of the cross bars before the camming surfaces thereon engage the bottles.

t. A bottle packing machine as set forth in claim 2 in which the oamming surfaces on the cross bars are symmetrically arranged with respect to the bottle supporting rail.

5. A bottle packing machine as set forth in claim 2 in which the bottle camming surfaces comprise a series of V-notches in the upper edges of the cross bars, the centers of said notches being substantially in line with the bottle supporting rail.

6. A bottle packing machine as set forth in claim 2 in which the bottle camming surfaces comprise a series of V-notches in the upper edges of the cross bars, said notches being progressively wider and deeper in the direction toward the stop member.

7. In a machine for packing bottles in cell cases, a plurality of spaced parallel rails serving to support a plurality of rows of bottles, means for feeding bottles along said rails in close formation to form a charge, a series of spaced cross bars forming with the rails rows of chutes for the individual bottles of the charge, said rails being slotted to receive said cross bars, and said cross bars being mounted for vertical movement in said slots and having bottle camming surfaces at their upper edges for shifting the individual bottles of each row to separate them one from another while they are supported on said respective rails, shiftable stop members for arresting said respective lines of bottles before the bottles come abreast of their respective chutes, mechanism for raising said cross bars and substantially simultaneously therewith causing a forward shifting of said stop members, whereby the bottles of said rows are separated from one another and aligned with their respective chutes, and means for thereafter moving laterally with respect to one another said rows of bottles and said rails to cause said bottles to drop through said chutes into the case.

8. In a machine for packing bottles in cell cases, packing mechanism comprising a pair of spaced parallel railsfor guiding the opposite sides of a row of bottles as they descend toward the case, one of said rails serving to support the row of bottles previous to its decent, means for feeding a line of bottles along said rail in close formation, a series of spaced cross bars forming with the rails a row of chutes for the individual bottles, resilient blade-like fingers on the Walls of said chutes to guide said bottles and retard the descent thereof, and a vertically shiftable grid arranged below said rails and cross members, said grid having a second series of chutes corresponding to and arranged vertically below said row of chutes, the walls of the chutes of said grid also having resilient blade-like fingers associated therewith and projecting downwardly therefrom, means for supporting a cell case below said packing mechanism, means for moving laterally with respect to one another said row of bottles and said pair of rails to cause said row to drop through said chutes into the case, and means operated prior thereto for shifting said grid downwardly to project the resilient fingers thereof within the cell forming structure of said case.

9. In a machine for packing bottles in cell cases, a plurality of spaced parallel rails serving to support a plurality of rows of bottles, means for feeding bottles along said rails in close formation to form a charge, a series of spaced cross bars forming with the rails rows of chutes for the individual bottles of the charge, said cross bars being mounted for vertical movement and having bottle camming surfaces at their upper edges for shifting the individual bottles of each row to separate them one from another while they are supported on said respective rails, shiftable stop members for arresting said respective lines of bottles before the bottles come abreast of their respective chutes, mechanism for raising said cross bars and substantially simultaneously therewith causing a forward shifting of said stop members, whereby the bottles of said rows are separated from one another and aligned with their respective chutes, and means for thereafter moving laterally with respect to one another said rows of bottles and said rails to cause said bottles to drop through said chutes into the case.

No references cited. 

